To skint us all by sending DC to private school?

Sure but they don’t. So we are left with private schools to do the state’s job and we are punished for it. In your utopian mind these kids are provided for….except they aren’t. Yet.

Errr, did you read my posts? Did you hear that I felt state education should cater for all children. That includes those with SEN. Obviously.

if the gov funded schools properly, we wouldn’t need private school places funded by taxpayers. The state sector would include alternative provision for children with SEN who genuinely need a different kind of educational settings, as they do now but not in sufficient number.

How far off being able to afford it are you?
You can cope without holidays, takeaways etc. But if you will end up defaulting on mortgage payments, getting into debt, that is another matter.

This is nonsense. Parents who send their kids to private school have no more hope than anyone else on 'influencing' their local school to 'do better'. It's laughable when people say this .

Change state school. You chose to educate ate one differently to another so that’s already going to cause problems.
VAT isn’t the issue. The school fees are the issue - they’ve doubled in the last decade and if you can’t afford them that’s just tough.

Why isn’t ds2 flourishing in state school? What exactly is he struggling with? What have you done to try and improve his experience at the state school? What if you pay to move him and he still won’t engage or is just lazy? I’d consider all of the above before throwing more money that you can’t
afford at it.

Do you realise that the state funds some private places in SEN schools? Do you realise the state system is massively failing our SEN DC.

Sometimes treating everyone the same is actually the most unfair thing you can do.

Putting an AUDHD child into a class of 30 in a noisy large school where the bell rings every 40 mins is like mental torture for some of our SEN kids

So get off your socialist high horse because clearly our government have lost their class analysis and decided to punish us and our SEN kids twice, they fail to provide for them and then punish us for trying.

So £10, 000 by 6 years roughly. Add it to your mortgage?

I understand your pain. State school teacher and I can tell you now actual schools and students won’t see a penny of that money directed towards what could make a difference. It will all go towards pointless initiatives. However being angry won’t solve it
in your shoes I’d probably try and throw everything I could at it to make it work. Could you extend your mortgage over a longer period of time ? Take on any extra hours ?

OP, if you can possibly manage it, send your other DC to private school - you’ll never regret it. Education is a gift that no-one can ever take away from your DC, and if they’re failing at the local comp, I would be begging, borrowing and stealing to get them to the same private school as their sibling. If it’s all really too much, you could take them out for the sixth form, although one of your DC might have finished school by then.
I’m absolutely with you over Reeves, Starmer and VAT on independent school education - a miserable, vindictive tax spurred by the politics of envy that has resulted in the closure of a not insignificant number of schools. It wouldn’t have been allowed had we still been in the EU - almost all other countries regard education as a public good that should be subsidised rather than taxed.

True.
And imagine if they had to have asylum seekers housed nearby, the boats would be stopped in days.

Explain to me how you think private schools meet the definition of a charity?

those of us who oppose private education do not do so out of spite and envy, but because of a belief in fairness. We see only too clearly the effect of inequity in educational outcomes between rich and poor. The world isn’t a fair place but some of us fight for it to be more fair on behalf of those who don’t have or can’t use their own voice. Children are one such category of people. My poorest children in my school’s very deprived area deserve as good an education as the wealthiest families’ children. They don’t get it because government funding doesn’t even get us enough glue sticks.

Make a choice to privately educate by all means but please don’t pretend it’s a charitable endeavour.

Full disclosure I'm against private education, however not for any ideological reasons but simply because if "private school parents" were in the state system they're the sort of people who could push the government to invest in education properly, they have the clout and the contacts to make things better for all children.
If all MPs and Peers had to send their children to state schools, could only use NHS services for treatment and had to travel everywhere on public transport I bet we'd see massive improvements in all three within a couple of years...

By the sounds of it you need to move your second DC. Are there any other state schools around? Perhaps just a better state school would fix the problem? Otherwise I think you have to do whatever you can to get them into the private school as well.

I would stop whining about the VAT though, all that's happened is that you've moved out of the 7% of people who can afford private school and joined the 93% of the population who can't. Tough shit.

Hardly likely to make a difference overnight was it.

Yes I do understand, I just don’t think that this trumps the logic of removing charitable status from something so far removed from charity. It’s privileged education for those who can afford it, not charity. The fact that some struggle more to pay fees doesn’t make it any more charitable.

the issue is not the VAT, it’s the state of state education and the fact that it is underinvested by such a degree that some children don’t thrive. That’s what needs to change.

but I do understand that this doesn’t solve your immediate issue and I do feel very sorry for you being in this position. I hope you find a way to make sure both your children thrive.

This

There may be other ways of helping DC2 flourish without moving to a private school. I would look into those since you can't afford private fees. It isn't a sign that you are favouring your oldest if you pay for just one. My sister was privately educated and I wasn't for various reasons. I got a better education and better results and never resented it.

Remortgage, do whatever it takes, send them both to private school.

And remember how you vote next time.

Could your second child possibly also have SEN or ND? Why are they failing at a state secondary school so quickly after flourishing at primary? It doesn't really make sense. Are they being bullied? Or have mental health issues? What does the school say about their underachievement so far and what plan have they and you put in place to turn it around?

As an aside it always surprises me that people who can afford private school live somewhere where the state schools are so bad. Use the money you'd spend on your DC2's education in a private school on moving to an area where either the teaching is better or the pupil demographic is more engaged in education. Or is this really just trying to make an anti-government point because you support a right wing party?

Does the school use School fees plan? That way you can spread it over 12 months rather than big term bills 3 times a year.

Yes you could ask about that

If you can afford £33,600 a year in school fees you are one of "the rich families"...